JULY 17, 7:41pm: Ball had surgery on Tuesday and is expected to make a full recovery by training camp, the team tweets.
JULY 13, 5:08pm: Lakers second-year point guard Lonzo Ball will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Tuesday, the Lakers’ PR department tweets. An update on his prognosis will be made after the surgery, the team adds.
Ball is still expected to be ready for training camp, Sam Amick of USA Today tweets.
News of the surgical procedure doesn’t come as a surprise. Ball dealt with left knee issues for a good portion of his rookie season. It was revealed late last month that Ball had torn meniscus in the knee.
The Lakers gave themselves some protection at the point guard spot by signing Rajon Rondo to a one-year, $9MM deal.
A sprained left medial collateral ligament and a left knee bruise limited Ball to 52 games in his rookie campaign. Ball was a triple-double threat every time he took the court, averaging 10.2 PPG, 6.9 RPG and 7.2 APG but shot just 36% from the field.
As someone dealing with a torn meniscus right now waiting for a surgery next week, the prognosis part makes sense. They have to cut in and see the meniscus before deciding whether to cut out part of the meniscus or try and repair it through stitching. What doesn’t make sense is how long it took them to come to this conclusion because the sooner the better for healing.
I do expect them to cut out part of the meniscus though because he’ll be able to return sooner and possibly before the start of the season otherwise he’ll probably miss the first few months recovering (though having a better future/knee health)
Agree, What took so long? Any development this summer is done. Improving shooting mechanics is done. Being ready for training camp, don’t think so. I am 62 dealing with torn meniscus, but I’m 62 not 21. This is a sign of things to come in terms of injuries to the knee(s). Magic told Zo he wanted to see his jersey up in the rafters with his. If it ever makes it, some custodial engineer will just be using it as a cleaning rag. Oh well out with the old & in with the new or is it out with the new & in with the old. Well whatever, Magic will sort out the new message.
I posted this in another thread, but it’s pretty common not to do surgery right away with a meniscus tear. There’s really no downside to waiting and trying to let it “heal” (wear itself down until comfortable) – IF you believe it’s probably going to be meniscectomy vs. a repair.
I had the injury as an athlete and I hated every minute of waiting and rehabbing something that I knew wouldn’t heal, but there’s no going back as of yet, when the meniscus is partially removed, you can’t get that part of the meniscus to grow back or anything. The only option is a full replacement from a cadaver or some experimental stem cell trials that still haven’t shown much progress. So trying to rehab is just a “why not” sort of process.
I am scheduled for meniscus surgery myself. Dr. Mandelbaum UCLA is doing it. He does the UCLA volleyball team as well as UC Long beach, my buddies daughter was starter on UCLB volleyball team, he did her knee & I am confident in what he does, He said basically the same thing you do but if you have to have it done, get it done . The longer you have to rehab before Sept training camp the better. So I know the drill too well.
You added a key phrase I overlooked – “if you have to have it done, have it done.” After going through it myself, it’s much easier to rehab a healthy-ish knee post surgery than one that keeps feeling better until more tears / slips into an uncomfortable position.
UCLB? This guy isn’t a local. No one who lives in this area would make that mistake.
Excuse me! Are you saying I am not local to LA area. Bet you a bottle French Bordeaux on it. 82 Chateau Le Tour on me being local. Bring your wallet.
Did your knee injury completely heal or did you have problems after. Curious if it affected you negatively as an athlete?
Honestly, I had heard it never really heals, but to be honest the time off and rehab strengthening my quads and hips offered huge improvements to my overall wellbeing so I personally don’t see any issues yet. It’s been 3 years and the only thing I had to do was ice my knee after playing early on. Mind you, I’m now playing a lower level in terms of competition, but I feel like I gained a lot of extra time in my post-prime, still young athletic days.
Follow the rehab and see if they will give you additional work to do for strengthening your other parts of the leg. It’s an odd positive outcome that I would have never considered during the 7 months of depression while waiting for surgery.
Thanks Jason, I really appreciate the input. As a 62 yr old I am struggling if I should go thru with it as I have heard it never really heals back to what it was. Your first post mentioned letting it heal (wearing itself down) which is what I have been doing. The chiropractor does some voodoo karate move to stretch it out and it has helped enough to put it off for awhile but it is constant nagging issue. I cannot imagine even training to play NBA with torn meniscus issues for any player. P.S. If you happen to be Jason Kapono from UCLA I really enjoyed watching you in college as a Bruin fan & you won a ring, NBA ring WOW. Rooted for you.. If not same guy sorry to bother you like that. If you want to keep secret, totally cool also…Thanks
See what my doc told me was that it’s best to get the surgery in a two month window because otherwise it’ll start to scar over and the odds go down that it’ll “heal” more properly.
Honestly it’s a sucky situation, but you definitely offer some positive for a 25 yo athlete.
Thank you everyone. Was unaware were on WebMD
Dude the article is about torn meniscus & arthroscopic knee surgery which is on point to written discussion. So ”Get off my lawn” says sports Scrooge. Some day your knee will be torn up & you’ll be thinking of what was discussed here. Sorry to cause you so much pain & anguish
I know his shooting wasn’t great last season but it can always improve, which did quite a lot the 2nd half of the season… but man cannot & will not understand how people can hate this guy, as the article says he is a TD walking threat. His numbers are absolutely unbelievable, I’d say for example better than J-Kidd’s rookie year, for me he was up there with Mitchell & should have been on the 1st all-rookie team, as I believe he was the 3rd best rookie, this guy is such a stud.
36%-30%-45%. That’s horrible but time is on his side. I don’t think most of the negative feelings are about Lonzo. I think it’s more towards his dad. Unfortunately, people would love to see LaVar look like a fool and his kids falling in the NBA serves that end. I personally just think his dad’s a fool and Lonzomav bit overrated. He definitely could of used another year at UCLA but that’s not the way things go right now. I actually feel bad for the kids because they have to carry the burden of their dad’s loud mouth. I’m sure every point guard took it as their duty to give it to Lonza every night to humble his DAD which is a bit weird.
Says the knicks cavs fan, bet you wish you had him instead of the french frog. Like op said improved second have and dude is a walking triple double in his first year. Chill dude, take hate elsewhere!
Up there with Mitchell? You’re kidding…
Beginning of the end.
Knee problems at such a young age isn’t a good sign at all. Pretty terrible actually. I know surgery can repair it but he’s a basketball player, lot of running, lot of jumping and lot of weight put on that knee so I just don’t see how the outcome here can be good. I’m not doctor obviously and I have never had knee surgery but I’ve had multiple back surgeries and I know once I injured back and even after the surgeries it’s never been the same and I’m not in sports.
Backs tend to be much more of a chronic issue than knees. Not to mention, the surgery recovery rate is significantly higher compared to having to go through a back surgery. Basically, once you’re forced to have back surgery, you can just about be assured you’ll either have another surgery, or you’ll continue to have pain afterwards..one of the two are almost a sure thing..Back issues, especially for the common body, are just a reoccurring nightmare..
A knee surgery, on the other hand, especially since we are talking about a very young, professional athlete, it can be completed successfully without any further issues whatsoever.
Hmmmm….not sure. Kyrie is a cautionary tale.
I agree about the back.
I follow baseball a lot more, but prince fielder was forced out of baseball and given the rest of his contract because of his spine. CC sabarhia had to find ways around his knee issues to be successful. It’s relative to your quality of life though, and backs are not something to mess around with.
It sounds like Lonzo was just trying to see if he could avoid having the surgery; however, he ran out of time..He clearly wants to have enough time to go through with the surgery, successfully go through his physical therapy and rehab, and get in some practice and court time before the season starts.
By having the surgwry now, he should be fully recovered and ready for the start of the season. Lonzo is really trying to prime his self for a big year, and by all accounts, physically speaking, his body is in the best shape of his life..except, well clearly the knee..lol
Either way though, he’s put on some excellent weight, adding a lot more muscle, which should really help increase his overall game this year. With that added muscle, Lonzo should be able to defend better, but more importantly it’ll help him driving and finishing around the basket..
It’s going to be pretty fun watching Ingram, Kuzma, Ball, Hart, and their draft picks Wagner and Mykhailiuk all grow and take some steps and strides in their collective development. I actually think this COULD be the perfect role for LeBron James, at this stage in his career.
LeBron can still carry the load for this team, but he should also focus more on setting up his teammates for success throughout this season. Driving and opening up lanes for their shooters, drawing attention away from the younger guys, and overall just putting them in favorable match-ups where these young guys can be successful..Like I said, should be pretty fun to watch!! …And I’m not even a Lakers fan..lol..I can’t imagine how excited they all are, I just hope LeBron doesn’t try to play too much Hero ball or “King” ball, and he stunts their collective development and interferes the team’s chemistry as a whole..However, I don’t think that’ll be the case, I’m much more inclined to believe the first positive outcomes I mentioned…
Has LeBron ever done anything but play LeBronsketball?
And a 2 for 1 special his father will get a labatomy
Gotta make the fake injury to block a trade seem legit right?
And his father is performing the surgery in the garage.
Did he have his father surgically removed at the same time?
His father will probably come out and blast the surgeon. He’ll say that if he had done the surgery his son would be recovered by now. In fact, LeVar is such a good surgeon that his surgery procedure would have made Lonzo go back in time before he even got hurt!
Ball for Leonard or Ball for Lillard deals to start circulating